Baritone ukuleles

Just had a thought... which led me to realize just how deep the depths of my ignorance is...

Couple of Qs about baritone ukuleles...

a) I know the tuning is different. I'd assume this means how you play chords is different, too, yes?
Is there somewhere that has these listed? Or are they, in fact, the same finger placements?

b) a friend, guitar player, wants a bass AND a ukulele. Just for silliness sake, could, should he wish, a baritone uke be tuned like a bass (an octave or two up, of course)? Or is it tuned like that already?

c) If the chords ARE, in fact, different, can a baritone ukulele be tuned to GCEA? I mean, I assume it CAN be done, but is there a reason it isn't?

d) Because of the longer (and I assume thicker) strings, would using a pickup and using distortion sound more like a guitar? Would making a solid body, with steel strings and, say, a humbucker, sound more like a guitar? (I ask, as ANOTHER friend, who also plays guitar, was cracking up at the idea of doing a ukulele rock band, with all the loudness that entails and thought the idea of, in his words, "a teeny version of my Les Paul" was hilarious... and charming, but he's thinking that, after a little research, having someone on baritone might fill the sound out better, if EVERYONE's playing ukuleles.)

God... I really am ignorant about this stuff...

Well, I guess that's what we're all here for, no? To bring the light of the mystical, magical ukulele to those that are still in the dark!
Me? I'm still kinda poking me head out of the cave.

Thanks all, for any help...

Think of a baritone uke as a small guitar missing two strings. The DGBE tuning is identical to the higher pitch strings on a standard guitar. So, if you're used to a soprano or a tenor with soprano tuning, then you'll have to learn new chords. If you're used to a tenor with baritone tuning you'll be fine. And if you're used to guitar chord shapes, you should be a little wierded out but otherwise okay.

The chord shapes are the same, they just sound lower. If you know guitar chord names you're most of the way there. A one finger "C" chord on soprano drops down to be a one finger "G" on a baritone. Retro is right, it's tuned just like a guitar, but it'll take a little time to get used to not having to fret the two lower strings. Yes, a brief Google search will bring up pages of baritone chord charts. Many Uke sites offer them right alongside the "C" and "D" tuning charts.

Awesome! I'm an idiot for not thinking of that myself. Just poked around Google and found that it's all the same finger positions, just different chords, as Sir Dave pointed out.
Groovy!

Thanks guys.

I just posted about this in another thread.

As mentioned previously, the chord shapes are the same. C becomes G, F becomes C, G becomes D, etc. Take any GCEA song and play it on a baritone. The song will sound the same, just pitched lower. Put a capo on the 5th fret and now you're back to GCEA tuning.

EDIT: Dave beat me to the punch. Bah.

The learning curve is very low. You'll get used to it in no time.

But if you're CHICKEN and want to go GCEA on a baritone, musicguymic sells a set of Aquilas that will do the job. Bok bok!

OHO! A CHALLENGE! (Pronounced "Shull-onje" in a bad French accent)

Just had a chuckle and a "Piss off" moment. Talking to my guitar player friend about this. His response? "Oh, so you might be able to actually sing "Soul Sister", then?"

I'm gonna play with this, I think.

I'LL SHOW YOU I AIN'T NO CHICKEN, JIM!

Ho ho! That's the spirit!

Just got a Makala MK-B (put on D'Addario baritone J68's) and having tons of fun with it...price for this shocker of a uke: $70 at Sam Ash.

Check out the vids of Doogey9 on YouTune playing the Makala...for that matter check out all of his vids.

I removed the soundhole decal...to make it look more vintage and expensive, LOL...

btw, you can get a ukulele that looks like a les paul.

PoisonDart said:

btw, you can get a ukulele that looks like a les paul.

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If it weighs as much as a Les Paul I'll be really having tons of fun...

I got a baritone last month and despite my intitial reservations about the size, I really like it. I still play my tenors more, but I play the baritone surprisingly often (compared to my concert and soprano ukes which I rarely play at all). Takes some getting used to coming from a smaller scale, but it has a lovely sound.

ichadwick said:

I got a baritone last month and despite my intitial reservations about the size, I really like it. I still play my tenors more, but I play the baritone surprisingly often (compared to my concert and soprano ukes which I rarely play at all).

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Did you tune it DGBE, GCEA or gCEA (re-entrant)?

I'm guessing the tone starts to approach that of a guitar with less of the percussiveness found in sopranos and concerts. I sometimes wonder if some traditionalists don't like that but I have seen Kimo Hussey and Gordon Mark using them a lot.

EDIT: Added links.

When I want more of a guitar sound, I pick up the bari. Lately I've been writing more songs on the bari, and I tend to play that one most of all. When I want the traditional uke sound, I put a capo on the 5th fret and viola I'm in gCEA.

Electric ukuleles is my pet subject, so perhaps I'll be able to help a bit.

d) Because of the longer (and I assume thicker) strings, would using a pickup and using distortion sound more like a guitar?

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What kind of guitar? (I'll assume electric guitar).
A baritone ukulele with a pickup will sound like an acoustic guitar with pickup through an amplifier.
They sound best with a clean tone as intended. You can attempt to add distortion effects to it with an electric guitar amp, but you may run into annoying feedback, hiss and not a very good quality distortion.
Generally, acoustic instruments are not good for distorting like an electric guitar. It depends also on the pickup type - some acoustic-electrics distort a bit better than others.
You can get effects on just about anything if you put it through an effects pedal - how well it works compared to other options is a different question.

Would making a solid body, with steel strings and, say, a humbucker, sound more like a guitar?

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Well yes you will get the same kind of characteristic sound that comes from electric guitars. A solid body electric ukulele with steel strings + humbuckers is the same hardware as a guitar, just a uke-sized body and different tuning.

In fact, I own a steel-string electric uke with humbuckers.
It is not a good sound sample, but I play it if you skip ahead to the 2:00 minute mark (first clean, then some distortion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM-bu5__RKw

(I ask, as ANOTHER friend, who also plays guitar, was cracking up at the idea of doing a ukulele rock band, with all the loudness that entails and thought the idea of, in his words, "a teeny version of my Les Paul" was hilarious... and charming,

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The Les Paul uke is certainly charming. I know... from personal experience



The steel-string electric ukulele is a very versatile instrument. It has all the advantages of an electric guitar that make them fit into many genres of music and bands, while being driven like a uke. But they do tend to cost a lot.
RISA at www.ukulele.de have 2 different lines of steel-string electrics (each lines come in either Soprano or Tenor).
Their earlier models are the ones shaped like a kidney bean and have single coil pickups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MaTrzTLniI

They can be tuned like a baritone with the right DGBE strings and action adjustment.
However, steel string electric ukes are a big committment, as they tend to cost a lot.

but he's thinking that, after a little research, having someone on baritone might fill the sound out better, if EVERYONE's playing ukuleles.)

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Here is my personal suggestion.
I would probably get a Tenor sized Eleuke ( www.eleukeusa.com ).
These are nylon-string solid body ukes that you can use with distortion and effects, just like an electric guitar. They don't replicate the electric guitar effect as closely as steel-string ones do, but they are affordable and will do the trick reasonably well. Nylon string electrics are a good entry to electric ukes IMO.
Here's a sampler of what Eleukes can do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxXA4zv8cI0

Why Tenor?
Because Tenor ukuleles can be fitted with either GCEA or DGBE strings. If you're lucky, you may not even have to make any nut adjustments. Aquila have a DGBE set for Tenor ukes.
Here's my Kala Jazz tenor being played with the baritone tuning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDEOs_hpqVg



Other ideas for an "electric" ukulele rockband:

Mahalo Les Paul acoustic-electrics.
The pickup is not great for acoustic sound, but they seem to handle some distortion;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox41_w-8gW4
But these come in Soprano only, so no baritone tuning. They also come in Telecaster design.
They're the cheapest option.

A better quality acoustic-electric Les Paul is the Kiwaya K-wave;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VegCK630Xg
Also comes in Telecaster design (Mahalo probably copied them). I think K-waves are discontinued though; you may have to hunt them down on google and eBay.
Concert size only.

Another good quality electric-acoustic ukulele is the Ovations. They sound better plugged in than acoustic though - acoustic sound is rather gentle;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcChU5S7LzM


However, my favourite nylon-string electric ukes are the Risa Uke-sticks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuqQWon71do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woyW9XIZoHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob7yGiHVVfo

These instruments work like a dream. Super portable, compact and functional. (The concert model now comes with geared tuners at request).

In short, I think baritone ukuleles will gradually gain some users and admirers (and buyers) once people start trying them vs. dismissing them based on "ideas."

I own everything from a sopranino to a baritone. My fav, soprano tuned gCEA. My second fav is my baritone tuned GCEA. Great for ballads.

Dude, kissing, you're awesome!
Thanks SO much for all the info!
I showed my friend and he wants to know where the one with humbuckers came from! I think he started drooling a little. Looks great, sounds great.
I'm kinda drooling a little myself! *lol*

I've wanted a Risa Uke Stick for a while now, but I'm not sure if the bride will let me. *grin*

I'm going to look into everything you've said and take it all down into my "Stuff I'm completely ignorant of, but should know" notebook.

Luckily, I have a friend who makes electric guitars as a hobby and he's said he'd help me out with building my own.

No... I'm not addicted to the idea of making my own ukuleles (Made a CBU already, CBU Number Two is planned out, ready for lots of scraping, rasping, planing, gluing, bracing, inlaying and everything else involved!)

Thanks kissing and thanks everyone for all the advice.

You guys really do rock.

A lot!

GVlog said:

Did you tune it DGBE, GCEA or gCEA (re-entrant)?

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It's tuned dGBE actually. A hybrid - reentrant D tuning. I plan to restring it as DGBE in the near future, however. I don't want it to sound like my other ukes, so I want to keep it tuned like a guitar. Besides, I want that extra bass note.

kissing said:

...steel string electric ukes are a big committment, as they tend to cost a lot.

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A lot? You can buy a Strat clone, a bass, a digital suner, two chords, a small amp and a mic - together - for the same price it will cost me to get a Risa tenor landed here in Canada. And I'll still have money left over to get a case of beer.

But they are nice and fun to play. Steel strings bend and wail in ways nylon simply can't.

ichadwick said:

A lot? You can buy a Strat clone, a bass, a digital suner, two chords, a small amp and a mic - together - for the same price it will cost me to get a Risa tenor landed here in Canada. And I'll still have money left over to get a case of beer.

But they are nice and fun to play. Steel strings bend and wail in ways nylon simply can't.

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That's exactly why I'm keeping an eye out for b-stock SX strats on rondo rather than drool over Risa steel strings or even Eleukes. I might have to put a few dollars in upgrades to get it up to par but that's still way cheaper than a Risa. I already own an amp so I'm only looking at around $100 for twice the versatility of a $700 Risa LP. Hell, I could probably find a used Gibson Les Paul for the price of a Risa LP Tenor. I guess they're just trying to squeeze as much money out of the steel string electric uke market as they can before all the import companies start pumping out their own steel string electrics. Right now their competition is mostly custom builders who charge an assload of money as well.